Easter Accomplished

Easter has passed and had barely a dent on our budget thankfully! Through careful planning and a little bit of preparation everyone who required a present received one and we had an action packed easter break with quizes and crafts and lots of roast dinners mmmmm.

With Easter fast approaching and only a fiver to spare from the budget, since we've been topping up isa' and such i need to especially sagacious this month.
I love celebrating festivals and not being particularly religious i find that we can have a very loose easter. So on a budget of five pound where's the money gonna go?
We have 8 eggs/ pressies to buy. I think these will be homemade chocolates, as these cost about 25p per box. so that's 2.00 straight away, but i should have some left over for the easter egg hunt. I have enough in the storecupboard for a simnel cake and gingerbread houses. I will use junk modelling for decorations and homemade easter cards, i have also been given a great suggestion for birch twigs covered in feathers from a swedish lady, from where it is a traditional swedish decoration!
So the great easter make starts tomorrow.

Gingerbread men

My eldest boy is learning about the gingerbread man at school and came home on friday wanting to make a gingerbread man. I foolishly agreed and so on sunday afternoon having already made a roast dinner i found myself arm deep in gingerbread dough with two excited little pixies running around my feet.

the recipe-

Ingredients- makes 25 ginger bread men

125g Butter or Baking fat (much cheaper and in this instance tastes fine)

100g Muscovado sugar/ brown sugar

4 tbsp golden syrup

325g Plain flour

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ginger

1. Preheat Oven to 170c.


2. Melt butter, sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat


3. Place the rest of ingriedients into a bowl


4. Add the melted mixture to the dry and mix thoroughly until it forms stiff dough.


5. Roll out to about 5mm thick and cut out your shapes.


6. Bake for 10 mins or until golden brown


7. Cool on a wire rack.


8. Decorate.

Personally i added a touch of cinnamon too. i also only made 6 gingerbread men because they are very fiddly and we turned the rest into houses and a sun. They all took the same amount of time to cook and remember that they comeout soft and harden as they cool. As you can see the kids loved decorating them, as did hubby and i. We used supercook icing tubes that are about 1.78 for 4 tubes. Not very cheap but will last about 3 batches and worth it for entertainement value. We ended up with a gingerbread street!

I think i was possessed by germaine greer yesteday, it happens occasionally. I get all Vaginas and bad men and everything turns into phallic symbols. It soon passes and i turn back into a more liberal and easy going me. The scary thing is that as i get older i'll become more like the germaine greer me.
Here's a lovely recipe for Beef Curry i havent cooked it yet but i've no doubt it'll be lovely.

Serves 2+ 2 little uns

1 frying Beef steak tenderised and sliced thinly
6 Tomatoes fresh and diced
1/4 big bunch of tesco fresh coriander, chopped
2 onions diced
4 carrots sliced thinly
1 pepper sliced
6 mushrooms sliced
1 1/2 pints of water
1 beef stock cube
1 tbsp Plain flour
1 tbsp mild curry powder
1tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp tom puree

1. Fry the beef strips in a little oil for 3 mins,
2. Add the onions, carrots and peppers. Fry for 4 mins.
3. Add the toms, mushrooms and coriander and fry for futher 3 mins.
4. Add the remaining ingriedients minus the water and stir through.
5. Add the water and simmer for 5 mins.

Serve with rice or poppadoms.

Babies and the dark scary cave!

Last night i watched Dawn gets a Baby. As i have already mentioned i'm a really big fan of dawn porter, and i found last nights episode to be just as honesta nd informative as the others. Having had 3 babies though i am constantly infuriated by owmen who are ridiculously squeamish about there own bodies.
I actually had a woman telling me that she would rather opt for a cesaerean as she did'tn want her 'bits to be out of shape' ! Really i was very shocked. Why is she bothering to have children if there not even worth giving birth to? Having had 2 natural labours and normal vaginal births it really pisses me off when women say that. Do these women prance around in front of mirrors with they're legs akimbo admiring they're vaginas or something? Because unless your particularly partial to looking at yourself does it really matter if it looks a little different. I presume then that they are worried about this myth that sex after having a baby is not as good. If these women just thought even vaguely logically then they would realise that

1. if it was so awful to have children then people wouldn't have more than 1 and consequently the human race would die out.

2. Men would rather women thought that sex was worse after women have children so it gives the men more right to go and fuck someone else because the man is not recieving a tight enough pussy for his delicate needs!

Well i can honestly say that mine and my husbands sex life has only improved over the years as we've got to know each other better and having the children has often meant that we've had to stop for a few weeks at various intervals but it's never really been a very big issue to how good the sex is.
So i've dismissed the 'sex is shit after' myth as... well... shit. And as for the aesthetically pleasing side of things, i've really not noticed to much of a difference though please understand that my husband would be more of the person to ask and he's not devastated by the effects of children on my 'bits' so for now i wont seek any counselling for him.
Women are given the most amazing gift and thats to be able to grow and give birth to a new human being, so to moan about not having a super pussy anymore seems a little stupid, does it not? Respect the power of a womans body and stop fretting about issues that are irrelevant.

Is mince and onions enough for a roast?

The steak i was planning on using for the casserole was off, grr so i had to make mince and onions with gravy as the meat for the roast dinner today. That was so annoying. I felt like i was in the seventies or something. I dunno it just didnt feel like i put enough effort in. It tasted o.k, everyone else liked it, or at least they said they did, but it's much more satisfying carving a piece of meat. In general we have meat 3x a week. Normally i will roast a peice of meat, have it with a roast and however much i have left goes into various meals for the rest of the week. That means that by wednesday we're onto veg since i make a roast at the weekend. It's not that i dont like having just veg because i prefer veg to meat anyday (i've typed meat to much now all i can think of is cock). I like roasted veg and casserole and veg curry and dhals and all delicious things like that but theres something so right about a good roast at the weekend.

I made aubergines that were absolutely amazing last night. I find the best way to cook aubergines is to use a pastry brush and slice them thinly length ways and then brush on olive oil and fry them each side for about 3 mins. They taste amazing. Especially if you use the oil from olives of sundried tomatoes or peppers. I've even used the oil from tuna before , you know when you buy tuna in sunflower oil and you drain off the oil well if you keep it for cooking it's delicious and saves money!

Another little tip is if your short on time when decorating a cake then try grating on chocolate, it looks very professional and takes literally 2 secs.

The meal was lovely last night with the m-i-l though i feel an arguement brewing about potential scattering of ashes of my late father in law. She wants him buried and hubby wants him scattered and s-i-l i'm not sure about. It's such a tricky thing. Ultimately hubby and s-i-l have the final say so hopefully my m-i-l will realise that and back down a little. If you hace ever met my mother in law you will know what a proposterous suggestion that is.

Mothers Day

So with mothers day approaching we have a busy weekend ahead. The Wheat free chocolate cake is in the oven and smelling gorgeous, the pressies are bought, the meals planned and the cards are in the thought process. My m-i-l is over tonight for a meal, It's all planned

Starter

Aubergines

Main

Paella

Dessert

Chocolate Cake

Obviously all homemade. The paella recipe is the one used previously, The aubergines were 50p each at the market and the chocolate cake has been made from left over choclate at xmas. The chocolate cake will also cover tomorrows puudding, when the other half of the in laws are coming round. I'm really looking forward to seeing my little neice who i havent seen for almost 1 month!

The pressies for both my Mum and M-i-l is Chivas Regal which is a very nice blended whisky that's currently 5 pound off at tescos. In general my mum will only drink single malt but this blended is so nice you can make an exception.

Ohh i would just like to recommend my new book. Blind Willow Sleeping Woman, it's an amazing collection of short stories. I can always tell when i'm reading a good book because it makes me want to write!

What is Facebook Etiquette and fairy cakes

I have no idea what facebook etiquette is? What happens if you dont wanna add someone? I dunno it's tough. You may be wondering where this has come from...hmmmm. Stuff and Stuff!

Any ho. No grrr i cant think. Heres a pretty cake that i made for my little girlies first birthday years ago. It's just made from 1 square sponge cake and 1 round sponge cake all homemade. A good few hours and a hell of alot of icing sugar and red food dye some ice cream cones and a few swiss rolls and marshmallows later i had this beautiful pink masterpiece.

Heres roughly how it's pieced together- Place the square cake onto a strong cake board, cut about an 1/8th of the circular cake out and cut out steps. You should be able to slot the steps back into the hole you took the segment from and the other half coming immediately from them.Cover the whole cake in pink ready to roll icing. Cover 3 mini swiss rolls in the same fashion and attatcg using a little soft icing to each corner. Roll 4 cornets in white icing and place ontop of the swiss rolls. Then have fun decorating with marshmallows and icing, I have also made a boys version which was grey and didnt have turrets but lots of marzipan knights.

Mums Birthday

Yesterday was me mums birthday and our 5 year wedding anniversary. We tend to just celebrate our wedding anniversary the day before so we can spend most of the day with mum. She wanted to have a little get together in the evening, so i took her out for lunch then we all went round in the evening. She put on a beautiful spread, not a soggy sandwich in sight. She makes amazing samosas and yesterday was no exception. She made pork and stilton samosas, delicious!
We also made the quick paella previously mentioned and made parcels with filo pastry with it.
Below is a great recipe for an accompaniment to curry or maybe just a good snack. The kids love it and really enjoy helping to make it.

Lentil Curry

1 mug lentils
1 beef stock cube
2 mugs boiling water
4 grated carrots
1 grated onion
1tsp mild curry powder
1 tsp Ground allspice
1 tsp of turmeric
1/2 grated pepper

Combine all ingriedients in a pan and simmer, covered, adding more water if needed for about 1/2 hour. Serve with naan, or pitta.

Holiday.

Gosh it seems like ages since i typed anything. We came back from holiday tosay. It was a brilliant week. I forgot how much fun it is being away fom everything. The Cottage was amazing. Very swanky, huge television, fourposter bed, American style fridge, en-suite for the master bedroom. I picked up loads of things i want to do in our house/ flat when we can finally buy one ourselves. The children loved it. Though we were all fed up with pub food buy the end of the holiday. There is only so much scampi and chips or lasagne you can have. We always had one meal out and 2 meals in a day. That seemed to work well. We did shit loads of walking. Mainly up hills. If you've ever visited the Isle of Wight then you'll agree that there are alot of up hills and very few down hills. My lovely little kiddies walked liked champions. The holiday also reminded me how much i love spending all my time around hubby, it's crap we have to do things like work!
I have no idea whats been going on it the real world since the IOW officially still thinks that WW2 is going on so i cannot count it as 'the real world' also we didnt put BBC News 24 on once. For us that' s very good. We're news junkies. There are worse things to be addicted to. Like Tic Tacs, speaking of which we watched Juno. Hmmm not sure it doesnt deserve oscar nominations but it is a really good little Indie film and much better that the usual hollywood twaddle ( i love that word).
The Hubby is now on Facebook. He's giggling with glee at each new face he recognises and is so chuffed that most of his old school friends look older than him.
I am also still enjoying Facebook, still recognising people. I love emailing everyone to find out what they've been up to. It's so interesting seeing where there lives have led them. One of my old friends is training to be a Doctor. Seriously if you had met her at school you'd be as baffled as me. She was one of those people that could of been on the herbal essences adverts and now she's being a doctor...weird. Another of my old friends is married and training to be a teacher, she was so great, she used to always big up Kashmir and one of the greatest compliments ever given to me came from her.
Guess it makes you wonder what they think of you? If it's weird to them what your doing? Or is it completely normal and they always saw you doing what your doing now? For instance one old friend is now working for an airline and it well suits him, through and through. I'm just pleased that Facebook introduces you back into peoples lives so you get to keep up with all the little twists and turns without, yes i know it's harsh, but without expending to much effort or time. Really it's soo easy to type an email and lets face it everyone is busy, an email can be sent and replied to whenever unlike a phone call. You can also keep in touch wherever they are for free.

I think i'm all blogged out for now. Actually i feel like writing a list so here is a list of random things

1. Laminate flooring ( no hoover just dustpan and brush, is there anything better)
2. Massage it makes you feel all warm and snuggly and randy if you dont fall asleep first
3. Packs of tissues. Very Handy hence Handy Packs
4. Phil and Teds pram, I LOVE IT
5. Good Camera and Serif Photo plus- hides a multitude of sins
6. Dawn Porter*- lets big up real women
7. SCUZZ
8. Red Dwarf and Father Ted- is ther anything cosier before bed.
9. Packs of Peppers for 98p in Tesco
10. New Jobs

* by the way try to watch her new series on BBC3. She is an amazing journalist who stands up for real women and all our little quirks and wobbles.

Do you ever feel like screaming for no reason?

Lots to say today-

Yesterday was valentines day. We decided not to buy anything for each other but to spend all the money on buying in a really great meal. We had-

Starter

Smoked Salmon and Caviar on Ciabatta

Smoked Mackeral and Prawns

Main

Squid ink spaghetti with tomato and mascarpone sauce with stuffed olives and peppers.

Dessert

Pavlova

It was delicious.

We're going away tomorrow, just a trip to the Isle Of Wight but still a well earned rest i think. We're renting a cottage for the week in Shanklin Old Village, it's a really lovely part of the world. Yes part of me does want to just hop onto the eurostar but we have to holiday in England sometimes!

On a completely different subject i'm so fed up with the Heather Mills bashing, i thought we had stopped witch hunts a long time ago but it appears not. This poor woman has done very little wrong and yet has been hounded and abused every step along the way. Why is it that we feel the need to attack anyone with a political agenda in this country. She is one of the few women in the public eye that will actually stand up for what she believes in and yet all of this is forgotten because she's going through a messy divorce. I love the Beatles but i have to admit that i will never like Paul McCartney Again. He seems to be a complete weasly media attention seeking *******.

Heres a quick lunch recipe that you can whip up in about 10 mins, it's healthy and cheap.

Ingriedients- Serves 4

2 Peppers

2 onions

5 mushrooms

2 fresh toms chopped

1 veg stock cube

1 tbsp of p/flour

1 tin toms

1/2 pint boiling water

1 tbsp of tomato puree

1 tsp of sugar

1 cooked smoked salmon fillet sliced.

Slice the top 3 ingriedients quite coarsly and fry in a little olive oil until cooked. Add the stock cube and lfour and stir through. Then add the rest of the ingriedients in order above, stirring after each addition. Once all the ingriedients are in, simmer for about 5 mins until piping.

Top with Cheese and serve with pitta bread for a lunch. Serve with Rice, nachos and soured cream for dinner.

Variations: Add chilli to make it spicy, or curry powder to have a quick and simple little curry.

As for te title. Thats just because soemtimes you know i just think it would be fun to scream at the top of your voice, just to release a little tension.

Painting

Obviously not having much opportunity to leave the house in the evening to pursue hobbies and entertainment alot of the time we have to entertain ourselves at home, like all parents. But i find that television can become very tedious. We have a wii which is great fun and we both enjoy exploring the internet and playing on civ things like that but we're also very awarre that all of theses pastimes have an impact on the environment. So we try to also other activities that help us interact, communicate and maybe learn something too.



It's a great idea to try and switch the screens off even for just 1 evening a week, it's very easy to get suckered into the television all evening but i promise nothing bad will happen if you dont watch eastenders!



My husband is an avid warhammer fan and so i have to play that every now and again. We also play chess but in the drinking game form, we enjoy challenging each other at cards and wordsgames and boardgames.



My personal favourite is painting. I have no talent for painting whatsoever but i find it very relaxing and therapeutic. Just give it a bash. Acrylics are the best to use for novices and you can pick up a canvas for a few quid. Here's a couple of my paintings as i say i have no talent but i really enjoy doing it and thats the important thing for me.

Teenage years

When i was a teenager i had a funny group of friends. Like all teenage girls my friends meant the world to me at the time. Teenage girls live for there friends. It's strange that due to facebook it's making me remember all the little sayings and things i did as a teenager. I met my husband when i was 17 and so i lost a fair few of my friends for one reason or another around then and gained new ones. Obviously as a parent you enter a different realm of friendship you enter the useful friends stage. You have friends that have children, or are plumbers, or locksmiths or something else useful so you have someone to phone when you need a plumber or what not. You make friends with you childrens friends parents so that it's easier to have you kiddies little friends over. You stop having friends that are fun and reckless and silly and just have friends that make sense. I dont know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I know that now when i make a friend i have to consider all my family, not just ,do they like butterflies!
The only trouble being that when you join something like facebook it reminds you of all the silly things you did that had no effect on anyone. I like being a Parent and i like being a wife and i enjoy being silly in those roles and i guess thats the way life carries on. You stop being a silly friend and start being a silly mummy and silly wifey.
But for old time sake, i had a blast being a silly teenager and all the silly little dramas that went with that be it boyfriends or the price of tea, purple or otherwise. I will raise my metaphorical glass to all those people that are still being a silly teenager, a toast, LIFE JUST GETS BETTER!
and to the people i was once a silly teenager with - thanks for all the pen stabbing, purple tea, flavoured vodka, screaming, crying, drama, oofs, robert rankin, philosophical debates, late nights, awful gigs, drunkeness, self indulgence, cuddles, hugs and obviously thanks for all the fish.

The little prince

I've just started reading The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery to my children. This is an amazing book that carries a message for all ages. For me it's the perfect book to give my little boy confidence to do and say things that others may not appreciate. He is at an stage in his life when he is questioning everything and looks at the world with curious eyes. When this combines with the ideology he is taught at school (it's c of e) we get some very interesting beliefs. For instance he's convinced that In The Night Garden is about God and that God is the little boy at the beginning because the whole world is in his hand. I love his theories and ideas on the world and i always listen and try not to patronise but so often he's taught he's wrong. It's a hard thing to do, watch your little lad be broken ever so slightly by the 'real' world. I will always insist that he can see all the dragons and magic he wants why take it away from him?

I am a great lover of books. My 4 year old can read already and that's because he sees the enjoyment i get from reading and wants the same thing and unlike alot of parents i will always find time to read to them and with them. Here's a little list of amazing childrens books that i loved and will encourage my little ones to read when the times right.

1. The Magic Finger by roald dahl
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by roald dahl
3. Dirty beasts and Revolting Rhymes by roald dahl
4. Matilda by roald dahl
5. The Little Prince
6. Swiss Family Robinson ( it was the Tree house that did it.)
7. Lizzie Dripping and the Witch
8. Coraline
9. Wolves in The Wall
10. The Phantom Toll booth
11. The Hobbit
12. The Farthest Away Mountain
13. Alice in Wonderland

the book people

Today some books arrived from The Book People. I would highly recommend them at www.thebookpeople.co.uk i mainly bought books for the children. The READ AT HOME OXFORD READING TREE is only a tenner and the alan ahlberg reading tree is only 8.99 for 16 books.

I've gone off facebook, it was a short lived affair.

I would now like to recommend a film that has been slated by critics but which i enjoyed and that's the Coens The Ladykillers.

Facebook?

A friend suggested i joined face book so i did and promptly forgot. Well yesterday i got a 'friend invite' from said friend. So i proceeded to get completely engrossed in the world of facebook for about 2 and half hours. Is the whole world on there? I couldn't believe the amount of people i knew. However i am completely confused by 'Poking' What does that mean? It's all very shiny but baffling at the same time. Theres a wall, people write on the wall,are you then supposed to write on otheres walls. Why is there a wall?

It also posed another problem, the profile photo. It was so difficult choosing one. Having 3 children means that invariably look tired and so i very rarely have a nice picture taken of me. Coupled with the fact hubby cant even point and click. There are lots of pics of hubby and children and not to many of me. It's also difficult because i couldnt find a space to put about children.

What is facebook etiquette? Do you invite someone to be your friend? or do you 'poke them' ?

I can manage to give birth to and bring up 3 wonderful children but facebook baffles me!

Lets move on

My wonderful new camera is here and i spent yesteday afternoon playing with the children taking photos. They certainly know how to pose. Especially girly, she just looks at the camera and she's gorgeous. I'm trying to get a good photo of all 3 of them for the wall. I intend to tinker with it on serif and then send away for it to get blown up to A3 on posh paper. We'll see if i ever get the perfect picture. I doubt it, if one keeps still the other fidgets.

As i type, girly (she's 2yrs) has taken all her clothes off laid a blanket out on the floor and told me she's going swimming. This doesnt bode well for her teenage years. Hopefully i'll be able to instill in her the fundamentals of keeping her clothes on by then...i hope.

Serif Photo plus

As previously mentioned i use Serif Photoplus, the free version to edit all of my photographs. Photography is a hobby i know will grow as the children get older since i have always enjoyed the art of photography. I am just buying a new camera which is a relatively good camera called Fuji FinePix S5700. I mainly got it because it was an amazing price at 100 squid, from www.pixmania.com . I cannot wait to start using it, it's due to be delivered tomorrow and i just know that there will be no housework done in this house for a few days.

Another great bargain nabbed recently was the Alien Quadrilogy 9 Disc Edition from HMV at http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/simpleSearch.do?searchUID=&pGroupID=-1&adultFlag=false&simpleSearchString=alien&primaryID=-1 it was only 9.99.

The pressie i have bought for our wedding anniversary arrived today too and it looks wonderful. I hope he likes it.

My husband and i experimented with a new recipe for paella laast night it's really quick and easy here it is-

Quick Paella

4 onions
4 fresh tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 pint chicken stock ( use a value stock cube in 1 pint of boiling water)
1/2 carton passata
2 Smoked mackerel fillets
salami
1 cup of rice

Fry coarsly chopped onions toms and garlic until browning. Add the stock and rice, bring to the boil and then lightly simmer for 10 mins stirring half way through. Once rice has cooked and taken most of the stock add the passata and fish along with the salami stir and heat through unitl all is piping. Then serve.

Wheat free meatloaf and in laws.

We had hubbys family over yesterday for lunch, as usual they were late (mainly due to m-i-l poor time management ie Football not taken into account). However thankfully no meat was ruined since i tried a new recipe, Meatloaf. Now whilst it's not adventurous to some, having never cooked it i was worried especially because inlaws cant eat wheat so i h ad to come up with a recipe. Anyway here's a recipe for

Wheat free Meat Loaf.

2 eggs
1kg Mince
2 Potatoes Grated
2 Onions Grated
1/2 pepper grated
2 cups wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar ( or a few dashes)
Oregano, Basil, parsley ( whatever you have.

Mix all the ingriedients with your hands until it's it's thoroughly combined and quite squidgy.

Bake at 180C for 1 hr 15 mins in a small roasting tin or whatever you have to hand. Obviously check it's thoroughly cooked before serving.

Everyone enjoyed it especially my biggest boy. I served it with roast tatties , roast carrots, parsnips and boiled cabbage

Free Resources

If you have access to the internet then quite often you have the ability to get almost anything for free. Here are a few of the programs that i have found to be very good that are completely free.

open office http://www.openoffice.org/

- Just as good as word and it's free, it also opens any word documents. You also get a draw program and all the other stuff you would get in microsoft works.

Photoplus- http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

- I love this software and have found it invaluable when tinckering with the kiddies pics.

Google Earth- http://earth.google.com/

-Great for directions and nosing at peoples houses. I love it. Also good for helping the children

with geography.

Music- http://music.download.com/

-I'm quite new to this site but it looks good and comes higghly recommended.

la Fée Verte

Here are some tips that i've used over the last few days.

1. Check www.hotukdeals.co.uk . I found a brilliant camera on here. I just love looking at all the bargains i even found something for our anniversary.
2. Buy selling off food. Just because it has todays date doesnt mean it wont be good tomorrow. Obviously use some common sense but you can certainly eat very well and cheaply if you buy food that supermarkets are selling at a reduced price.
3. Dont throw away leftovers, we had my sister and her fella over yesterday and i cooked a little to much Bolognaise sauce so i kept it added 3 tbsp lentils and some boiling water simmered it for 25 mins and voila a delicious Beef and Tomato Soup.
4. Buy the best quality you can afford, i cannot believe that people still buy Smirnoff when Stolichnaya is practically the same price but 100 x better. Stoli is much smoother and much better value for money.

Aside from these few pearls of wisdom i have little to say today. Ohh i'm very much enjoying absinthe at the minute. MMMMMMMM. Just in case someone isnt to sure on how to prepare it-

Absinthe

1. Add a little water to the bottom of a tumbler.
2. Rest a teaspoon across the top of the glass.
3. Place a sugar cube (or a teaspoon of sugar) onto the spoon.
4. Pour the absinthe over the sugar about a shot.
5. Light the sugar using a matchstick and allow the sugar to mealt but not burn or caramalise.
6. Stir through the burning sugarand absinthe and water.
7. ENJOY

A list of good things.

Things that are great...

the wii

Cabernet Shiraz

Walter moers

Value stock cubes

Hotukdeals

Homemade Spag Bol that lasts 3 days

Super Strong Black Coffee

Gomez

Sex in the middle of the night

Green and Blacks Chocolate

Medised for children who are poorly

Tim Burton films

Play fighting

Discussing world politics

and lots more....

A 3 Course Meal?

Yesterday we had friends over for dinner. We get on really well with the couple but see them rarely due to busy lives on both sides.

We exchanged belated christmas presents. Which was actually quite good because it meant the children hace had little extra presents when they weren't expecting it.

Unfortunately my friend is quite picky with her food, not being the sort of person to just dish up and say tough i waited until they came to check which meat she likes. Hubby and i eat just about everything so it didnt matter to us. This was the menu

Starter

Italian Pizza Bread

Main Meal

Chicken in a white wine sauce

served with wholewheat spaghetti

Dessert

Caramalised Peaches and pears with toasted oats.

I'm a firm believer that you dont need to break the bank to eat good healthy food and last night was no exception. The whole meal cost about £5 to feed 4 adults a 3 course meal of reasonable quality and it didnt take hours to prepare and cook. i would say it took 20 mins from start to finish.

We had a great evening. It's nice to talk to people who dont have children because that way the conversation isnt just about yours and there children. You can actually have adult conversation and pretend your life doesnt revolve around three little beasts. Having said that i cant wait til they do have children. She's incredibly maternal. I've known them since college and she's always been the same. Some people were just born to have kids, she's one of them.

Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Four years of hard work with my little lad and finally someone has told me i'm doing well! Today when collecting the ginger one the teacher came out with him, as they headed towards me i was preparing myself for arguing his case. Hopefully no-one was seriously hurt in this bout. Hopefully i wont have to face the humiliation of being sent to the head teacher...Again.

To my absolute amazement i noticed the teacher smiling,
"good news today" she said. So i put away my 'concerned parent' face. She then proceeded to tell me that my gorgeous little lad had managed to get himself in the gold book and been star of the week for being the only child in the year to know all 45 words for reception. He's now moved on to YEAR 1 work. I wanted to do the 'embarassing mum thing' and cry and give him a big hug proclaiming that obviously he's is the most amazing child in the world and it's about time he got some recognition. But i didnt. I smiled and thanked her graciously as she congratulated me i how well i've been teaching him at home to be at this level.

It's strange i know it should be enough to see your children thriving and growing and being happy but sometimes it's just really great to here that your child is better than all the rest!

And now for something completely different...

In the process of cleaning through our junk wardrobe i found some scribblings from when i was a teenager. My goodness i had no idea how annoying i was! I find it so strange when people envy teenagers. Why? They have raging hormones, out of control hair, dismissive teachers, controlling parents, no money and bodies they have no control over. I was no exception to that list. I decided to keep all my scribblings and diaries and dramas to look back on when girly has driven me mad when she's a teenager, to remind myself just how crap it is.

So next time your cursing youths, cut them some slack because you can guarantee that what ever you may think of them, they think worse of themselves.

We've not had the best day. Last night the kithchen sink blocked, so hubby ran up the shop to get the special bleach that unblocks drains, it was an extortionate £3.55 and you've got to use the half the bottle. We decided to leave it over night in the vague hope we may awake to have an unblocked sink though we rarely have much faith in these things. We then watched The Negotiator which i really enjoyed. Respect to Mr Jackson.

The children then hd an awful night, girly was up every 5 minutes for an hour and baby was feeding for far to long for a ngith feed! Sometimes no matter what you do, you can try every technique there is but untimately they will only go to sleep when they feel like it. We as a rule have a bed time routine that works very well but occasionally, like all parents, we have 4 hours sleep and incredibly frayed tempers.

So understandably i wasnt impressed when this morning i had to spend an hour unclogging the kitchen drain. Not the most pleasant job. My husband as wonderful as he is cannot put his mind to anything even vaguely practical so it was left to me to undo u bends and drain covers and use any implement to hand to sort the problem. But it's sorted now. And i have a much better understanding of our kitchen drainage than i did yesterday so at least i learnt something.

But in the long run an hours work did save me alot of money on a plumber, which is who my husband would have called for instantly. I guess it pays to have a go at fixing things yourself sometimes. Particularly if moneys tight.

Space Saving

We have 3 children and so space is at a premium in our house. We are always looking for new ways to save space whilst still keeping all the things we like and use. We try not to clutter and collect objects that we wil not use , though i have to say it isn't easy for my husband or i since we have both been big collectors of various things in the past. My biggest vice in the fight against clutter are books. I find it so difficult to part with any of my books. I still have all the anne rice books from my anne rice stage when i was a teenager and all my classics that i hardly ever read but feel i should have as an englishwoman, i have my books that people have bought me that i will never read but have to keep and then theres my favourites. Hmm i've wondered off the point. So here are the best ways we've found save space.



1. Try to sort through childrens toys and clothes before every birthday and christmas and give what isnt needed to charity.



2. Transfer all your c.ds to carry cases, the sort that are a few quid in tescos and hold about 40 c.ds. Some charity shops take the empty c.d cases but if not just throw them away or find uses for them.



3. Do the same for your dvd collection, only we store our dvd's in a bigger storage case, it holds 240 dvd's and it's surprising how much room that saves when you transfer them all over. I know alot of people treasure there dvd's in the cases but for us it was more important to be able to keep our belongings streamlined than have a nice display. I've recently bought a second dvd holder from ebay, it's much cheaper than the high street.



4. Everytime a charity bag comes through your door put something in it for the collection date. It may only be 1 pair of shoes but it's 1 pair of shoes that you dont need and someone else does.



5. Use your computer. Store photos on your hard drive rather than having albums and albums of photographs. If you want to have a more tangible copy for relatives then make a photo slide dvd using nero, set it to some apt music and it turns into a present rather than just a copy of some photos.

Well all of these tips have saved us space. Not that you'd know it to look at the house, sometimes i wonder if it is ever tidy. I spend hours every day cleaning and tidying just for it all to be undone at the weekend when everyones at home. Ah well i'd rather have a house full of laughter and mess than a house full of silence but tidy.

Value Food

I was speaking with my s-i-l earlier and found that she very rarely bought value food at supermarkets until i gave her a list of value foods we use on a regular basis. This made me wonder how often people waste money buying a brand name food. My sister has very little spare money and yet she very often buys ready meals and takeaways, this baffles me . Surely the less money you have the better you need to be with your money. However even if i had all the money i wanted i still wouldnt bother wasting money on things that i either do not need or can find cheaper else where. My parents are reasonably well off and yet my dad almost only buys reduced items, he manages to pick up so many food bargains simply by knowing what time in the evening asda reduce meat and veg. Therefor my parents live on a minimal food budget.

I think every shopping budget has to juggle quality and quantity. In our house we buy value basics and then we can afford to buy the extra things that we particularly like. For example we all love olives and so they are a must on our shopping list, we also love tea leaves rather than teabags so we always keep in Tesco Finest Tea leaves, which we've found to be the best value for the quality.

So anyway enough waffling here's a little list of value products we use. I mainly shop at tesco and so i do not know if these products are good in other shops, all of these are Value products.
Basmati Rice
Penne
Stock cubes
Pitta Bread
Tinned Tomatoes
Tuna
Onions
Nappy Sacks
Lamb Mince
Apple Juice
Orange Juice
Vodka (if flavouring it)
Sponge Scourers
Brown bread ( but only comparing to other sliced wholemeal bread, not proper bread)
Pesto
Instant Noodles (but only compared to other brands of instant noodles, these are in no way a substituts for proper noodles. I would also suggest you use a stock cube rather than the flavouring tey inclue since there is less junk in a stock cube.)

These are the main products i use and i may add to it if i remember others. Obviously some value food is rubbish but it is a case of trial and error.

Breastfeeding Rant

Whilst i agree that it is every womans choice whether they breastfeed or not i'm baffled by how many women choose not to.

From a purely practical point of view it's much cheaper to breast feed. Aside from the obvious formula milk that is not needed, there is no need for sterilisers or bottles. It really cuts the cost down of having a baby.

Bottle feeding also requires alot more effort. I am not a lazy person but i do not see the point in spending all that time sterilsing, mixing and warming when boobs can do all that for you!
It seems to me that alot of women are just pressured into bottlefeeding by society. This starts from a young age, just consider a little girl with her baby doll. Almost all baby dolls come with bottles. This implants the image of a baby and bottle in a childs head therefor normalizing a bottle over breast. Whilst i obviously do not expect a model breast to come with a baby doll i wonder why there is any need to include a bottle. My little girl has many baby dolls but i've never given her a bottle to go with them since i dont see the need. She still has as much enjoyment out of her dolly as any toddler.

We are then shown consistently as girls and women the image of baby and bottle. Not only from the ruthless formula companies but also from television programmes and films. Can you remeber the last time you watched a film with a woman breast feeding in? Combine these images of the bottle with the negative opinions of breast feeding presented by men and women alike is it any wonder why so many women feel it's something they cannot do.

It is mainly breasts that you see plastered over mens magazines but oftn men do not want women to breast feed since they then feel this would stop them being able to look at breasts as sexual objects. I would like to remind them that large breasts were originally attractive as a sign of fertility since bigger breasts usually meant a woman breastfeeding and therefor having had a child. So why knock the reason why men found large breasts attractive in the first place?

This leads to the question of why thereare so many negative views about breastfeeding from people who have never even tried or indeed do not have breasts! Over my time as a 'nursing mother' which is a fair amount i have heard alot of opinions about breastfeeding and i must say that it is mainly women whom i have the strongest negative opinions from. However i do feel that they do not realise that they are just spouting the usual sexist views that ultimately men create.

Breastfeeding should be looked at as a symbol of feminine power. I feel empowered by breast feeding. It is an amazing feat to be able to, not only carry and grow a baby inside of you and bring it into this world, but to be able to sustain it for 6 months by just your body alone. Yet most women do not find it empowering. Why are women not praised for doing this amazing act for there child? Why are we made to feel like social outcasts, strange or 'hippies'? It is another example of womens beauty and strength being knocked down by a masculine world, this may sound strong and feminist but i honestly believe this to be true. That does not mean that i blame all men. I have met and continue to meet individual men who are very supportive. However men in groups seem to have different opinions and unfortunately we still live in a society where men hold most of the positions of power both in business and government.

Well i guess thats the end of my rant.

Tips that have saved me money today

1.Make a list - (made a list for shopping for the week, got it all in one go, saved money and time!)

2.Search all websites for the best bargain- (bought Curb your Enthusiasm for £39.99 series 1-5 from zavvi. rrp £81.49)

3.Clear Clutter- Well it hasnt saved me money yet but by going through the childrens clothes and sending a few bags to charity it's less i'll have to pay the removal company when we move.

4. Shop at a market- Instead of trundling to the supermarket shop go to the market. Not a farmers market just a fruit and veg stall will do and buy the cheapest veg.

5. Walk- instead of getting in your car or on the bus just walk. I've walked about a 3 mile round trip today may not sound like much but i've saved £3.90 on a bus and parking charges if in a car.

Time to move on

The funeral has passed and thankfully it went well. There were no arguements all who were supposed to be there were there. I met some new faces and greeted old. My f-i-l's estranged sister very bravely came down for it and she was really lovely. My husband hadnt seen her for 20 years and so he was really quite excitedly nervous but they got on well. She was nothing like my f-i-l she was very vibrant and seemed to have a great sense of humour. Which is good in this house. She got on well with the kiddies and knew how to take my m-i-l which is always a good thing.

My husband dealt with the funeral in his usual dignified and admirable way. I was really proud of him and i have to admit it may be inappropriate but he looked really sexy in black! I did refrain from snogging him every 2 minutes though, i dont think that would have gone down to well amongst the in laws, (yes i did use the term snog, well it's not only teenagers that do it!). My s-i-l also handled the situation surprisingly well considering she had to take her newborn baby to her father funeral. My m-i-l handled it differently to how i was expecting, she kept very much to herself.

So now i feel it's time to move on a little. Of course there are still some lose ends to clear up. The flat he lived in for instance needs clearing and the we need to be reimbursed for the funeral but most is now sorted and so i hope our lives can return back to some sort of normal routine. That is before we have to move in march!
Anyway my little lad is doing really well at school and can now read all of his High Frequency Words. Not much int he way of money saving today i know but here's a little tip Use http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ for all your money saving tips. The forum is the best forum on the web and they have helped me out endlessly with the funeral and such.

An ode

"Am i dead?"

The Gentlemen said,

In slacks and a leather coat.

"You are" the ferryman said,

to the man who was dead

"now kindly get in the boat"

"Have you sat nav?" asked he

the dead man you see

was a fan of gadgets and qvc

"i've recently bought a brand new wii,

it cost just 293!

I'm a great believer in technology.

So have you sat nav?" asked he

The ferry smiled and bowed his head,

"No" the old ferryman said

"It's a funny thing when you are dead,

you know eactly where you tread

There's no need for sat nav when you are dead."

The ferry man said.

to the man who was dead

who thought quietly to himself

I'll have to give it to someone else.

On a lighter note

On a lighter note my children are still being sweet little pains in the bott.







My girly said something so funny the other day. When i asked her why she didnt have any knickers on she huffed and said all stroppily "i wore some yesterday". My little girl is the daintiest prettiest and pinkest little thing ever but when it comes to her anatomy she can be completely crude.







i have made a little travel behaviour chart for the children they have 1 each and it's a great way of controlling behaviour when they are out. imade it on the computer and then in true neil buchanan style i covered it in sticky back plastic. I used a split pin for the hands and pasted a picture of there favourite programme in the middle, and put the number 1-10 in the stars around the edge. They get a reward if they get to ten. It's small enough to fit in your handbag or wallet and because it's laminated it's really durable.

Heres a pattern for 2 to be printed on a4 -

A Poem.

Well another day has been and gone and another day closer to tuesday, the funeral. The passing of my f-i-l has raised alot of issues for me that previously i had never really thought about.

I had never really considered how men grieve, whether it's accepted yet by society for a man to be upset about a loss and be vocal about it. Even my husbands mother has just assumed he's dealing with it better than her daughter. Is this because he's a man? Does he feel like he cant cry for fear of looking feminie in some way? I've told him time and time again that it's fine to cry and be upset about it but he still hasnt. I know that everyone grieves differently and i do understand this. My husband never had a particularly good relationshp with his father and i genuinely think that if e needed to cry he would but still i think that there is a huge stigma attatched to grieving openly in this country.My husband has only asked for help once from his family and that was to ask his sister on the day there father died if she would see him in the evening it was arranged she would come to our house with her daughter and partner for 1 hour she was getting a lift to and from our house but she still cancelled last minute. My husband then asked her if she could please try to make it she said she would and she did come but she and her mother have since told him so many times how wrong it was for him to do this to her! Sometimes i feel that his wishes and emotions are cast aside because he doesnt cry and scream and argue so therefor he couldnt possibly care as much as everyone else.

Another issue it has raised is how to approach the death of someone you loved but didnt necessarily like. My husband, whilst he got on with his father for the last 18months of his life had previously had a very tempestuous relationship with him. His father had many estranged relatives and had fallen out with the majority of his family at one stage or another. Does it make it easier for people who were not very close and didnt idolise there parents when tere parents die? Or is it harder to try and deal with the array of emotions they feel?

My husband is currently in the process of trying to find a poem that would suit his father. He doesnt want it to be to sad since this doesnt fit with the feel of the funeral. It's very difficult to find a light hearted peom about death.

For my part i have written a poem about what i think my f-i-l should and would have wanted to say

Do not feel guilty for living
When i have passed away
Keep smiling laughing playing
and do this everyday
Promise you wont waste tears on me,
dont waste your precious dreams,
dont waste your heart wishing for me
For lifes not what it seems
It's just a few short momments
slips through your hands like sand
so live for every second
laugh and smile all you can
In case you forget i'll be watching
making sure your having fun
I love you so much dear daughter
I love you so much dear son.

When my husband saw this he said he wished that what he had said. I wish my father in law had said that to him too.

Funeral plans

Today my hubby and s-i-l met with the lady who is going to deliver the service at my f-i-l funeral. She was lovely (and an OU tutor yay). She talked through the service, which will be not be religious. My husband has decided to be a pallbearer which i'm really pleased with because its a very symbolic gesture which i think will help him deal with his emotions in a physical way.

He was made to go into work after. His employer is being very awkward with him. She is a complete bitch which may be very childish of me but it's true. She is one of those women that looks down her nose at parents as if it's your fault she hasnt got any children! It wouldnt really matter if that was her attitude except she's a head teacher! Any way it doesnt matter my husband was quite happy to go in to work. Anything to get away and forget it all.

My oldest, who is 4, has settled down again at school agan. He was getting into lots of fights but thankfully thats stopped again mainly down to bribery on my part. If he's naughty at school he doesnt get to play on the wii.

I try to help my 4 year old by teaching him a little bit at home as well as his school work, i've found a great source of information at www.firstschoolyears.com which has great printouts for high frequency words .

A New Year

Happy New year to all and i hope you all had fantastic Christmases'.

Unfortunately our Christmas left a little to be desired. On the 30th of December my f-i-l passed away. My husband got the call at 11.30 am that he had died. After phoning round the immediate family he went to see his father which was extremely hard for him.

Since then it's been whirl of phone calls, meetings and squabbles.

My M-i-l is executor of the will however she has been divorced from my f-i-l for 10 years. This has meant that as next of kin and his closest family my s-i-l and hubby have taken control of the funeral arrangements which has in turn caused many problems. My m-i-l assumed she would be the one arranging the funeral and has been upset by the arrangements and therefor been a little callous.

I am so proud of the dignified way my husband has dealt with this whole situation. He never ceases to amaze me with his strength. He has deallt with his mother and sister amazingly well. Which has not always been easy where his mother is concerned since sometimes she can lack tact.

On a wonderful note my s-i-l had a beautiful baby girl. Baby Willow is doing incredibly well and so cute. She is being breast fed hurray thankfully my s-i-l agrees that breast is best. Though we approach breast feeding in different ways.

And now for something completely different!

My christmas cake is fantastic. I've only just started eating it since we didnt get a chance over xmas for obvious reasons.

My dad has got Bells Palsy. Diagnosed on xmas day. Only my dad could do that. I personally think he was just jealous of my husbands father getting all the attention.

My son has gone back to school today and therefor reignited the continueing question of whether we should have opted for home education since he doesnt seem to be doing to well at school.

My baby boy has 2 teeth and more on the way which he isnt happy about but i love because he's got that gorgeous toothy grin.

My girly is driving me mad! She refuses to eat anythin other than fruit. Which wouldnt be so bad in the summer but it's very costly this time of the year.

So that the round up. Well some of it.